Across the Universe
by QuickSilver92
Summary: "No one much thinks about inter-dimensional travel, these days. And I have never before met someone trustworthy enough to possess an artifact that runs off of life energy who yet still might find some use from it. But you seem to be much older than you look. Perhaps you have some life to spare…" Ten/Rose reunion fic with a little help from our favorite captain.
1. Chapter 1

The Doctor stood forlornly in the middle of the console room, feeling a desperate sense of loneliness crash over him at the utter silence inside the ship. That was another one gone, then… Another companion departing him for a normal life. A stable life. A life that he would never be able to experience…

The Doctor closed his eyes in pain, his throat clenching shut as he recalled Donna's words when he returned to pick her up from what he had thought was just an extended visit with her family for the holidays.

_"Doctor, I've met somebody... A bloke. A nice one, this time. Not some loser who was just usin' me to breed creepy little spider babies."_

_ The Doctor had forced a laugh, trying to be optimistic despite the cold weight of dread settling in the pit of his stomach. "It's not often you get to say something like that. Weeeell, not unless you're traveling around with the likes of me, I suppose."_

_ Donna had smiled at him then, though it was obviously strained, and the Doctor knew what she was going to say before she opened her mouth. "No, I s'pose not. But, you see… That's the thing, Doctor… I can't go traveling with you anymore."_

_ "Oh. I see." He tried to make himself sound understanding, but the words came out flat and lifeless._

_ "We're getting married. Shaun and me, that is."_

_ Despite himself, the Doctor couldn't keep the stricken look off his face. "But it's only been a week!"_

_ "Actually, it's been six months. You got it wrong again, Space Boy," she teased, though the humor didn't quite reach her eyes._

_ "Ah. Right…" He tried to seem light-hearted about it. No need to make her feel guilty about moving on with her life. A hand came up to rub at the back of his neck sheepishly, and a wry smirk was forced upon his lips. "For a Lord of Time, I'm a bit rubbish at being punctual…"_

_ "More than a bit, you daft old alien," Donna interjected, nudging him lightly, apparently believing his nonchalant façade. "But you make up for it in other ways." Her eyes softened as she studied him. _

"_I, um…" The Doctor shifted awkwardly under her observation. "I don't suppose your new man might have any interest in traveling, as it were? The TARDIS could make you up a nice couple's suite, and I could take you both on _such _a honeymoon he wouldn't believe! With only a minimum of explosions, I swear."_

"_The thing is, Doctor, Shaun's mum is ill. The doctors say she's probably got a year left, at the most. It's one of the reasons we're getting married so soon. And, well, he needs to be here with her during all this."_

_The Doctor nodded matter-of-factly. "Of course. Quite right."_

"_But as soon as Shaun's ready, I am absolutely gonna take you up on that offer of a free honeymoon, however late it is. So don't even _think _about disappearin' on me, Space Boy!"_

_The Doctor gave a genuine smile at that, though an intense melancholy still clouded his eyes. "I wouldn't dream of it, Donna Noble."_

_She nodded approvingly, giving him one last sassy look before her expression softened again. "I just want you to know, these last few months have been the best of my life. I've seen and done more… _lived_ more, than I ever imagined I could have before I met you. I can't even begin to tell you how grateful I am for that…"_

They were always grateful, his companions. So very grateful for the opportunity he'd given them. For the chance to explore the galaxy and to experience things no one else could even imagine. And yet, none of it was enough to make them stay. Some got homesick and wanted to return to their old lives, others found new and exciting opportunities on other planets that enticed them to settle down and give up their nomadic existences. Some fell in love and left him to settle down and start a family. Others, still, fell in love with _him_ and left when they realized he could not give them what they wanted. He could show them all the wonders of the universe, and in return they would help ease the deep ache of loneliness from his hearts. He grew to care for every one of them deeply, but he could not love any of them… Not like that, at least. Not until…

"Rose." The name was an agonized whisper torn from his lips as he finally gave up the battle and collapsed to his knees in tears.

The one companion who would never have left him. Not for Mickey, or her long-lost dad, or anybody in any of the worlds they had saved, or even her mother, when it came down to it. The one companion who was in it 'till the end, and she was the one who was ripped away from him. The universe was a cruel place, sometimes.

"Oh, Rose…"

Without Donna or Martha there to keep him distracted and to fill the emptiness in his life, feelings that he had been suppressing since their last meeting at Bad Wolf Bay flooded over him, leaving him collapsed on the floor of the console room with silent tears pouring down his cheeks.

He stayed that way for what felt like hours, before the overpowering crush of despair finally faded, leaving him only with a deep, aching emptiness. Finally, he managed to stand and scrub the tear-tracks from his face. He turned to the console and began to input random coordinates into the machine, taking comfort in the familiar wheeze of the TARDIS as she prepared to take him to the next adventure. Always moving on. Always running. Because it hurt too much to stand still.


	2. Chapter 2

"All those years of tryin' to motivate myself to go to the gym, who knew all I needed was to start fightin' aliens to get myself in shape?" Rose panted to herself as she came barreling around the corner in a deserted London subway tunnel. A loud bellow from the large, humanoid alien that looked rather like the hybrid of an iguana and a gorilla chasing after her was her only response. Rose whipped her head around in surprise as she registered how close to her the sound originated, startled to find the reptilian ape almost within its muscular, clawed arms' length. And steadily gaining.

"Oi!" she yelled out, ignoring the protests of her burning lungs and increasing her speed. "Any time now, guys!"

Several whooshing sounds met her statement, followed by a resounding thud as the alien collapsed face-first on the concrete floor. Rose halted her frantic run instantly, turning and leaning against the wall to catch her breath as she watched two black-clad men, one dark-skinned and the other pale with spiky blond hair, come out of their hiding places and cautiously approach the fallen creature. Jake hovered over the alien and prodded it experimentally with his foot before Mickey knelt down and removed the three tranquilizer darts from its neck.

"Cuttin' it a bit close, there, weren't you?" Rose accused, glaring at her two best mates.

Mickey merely replied with a cocky grin. "Nah, we were just keepin' it interesting for ya."

"Well, we'll just see how interestin' I can make things for _you _next time when you get bait duty!"

"That's assuming he'll get bait duty next time, love," Jake interjected. "Seein' as he's the reigning Rock, Paper, Scissors champ right now, that may not be the case."

"Whose idea was it to make all our important decisions that way, anyway?" Rose asked, suppressing a grin.

"Yours, I believe, Agent Tyler," Jake answered with a smirk.

"Was not!" Rose defended, raising her head haughtily. "_I _wanted Nose Goes."

Mickey snorted at this. "Some professionals we are…"

Rose laughed and gestured to the prostrate alien lying at their feet. "Speaking of professionals, we should probably start acting like some and return His Highness to his awaiting parents. S'rude to keep royalty waiting."

"So much destruction, and all 'cause of a rebellious teenager," Mickey observed, leaning down with Jake to help lift the creature. "And we thought _we _were right terrors in grade school, huh, Rose?"

Rose grinned her tongue-in-teeth grin. "Yeah, well, at least Kongzilla's parents are loaded and have agreed to pay for all the damages he's caused. That's more than my mum or your gran could've done back then."

"Well a fat lot of good that'll do us, though, without some intergalactic bank for currency exchange," Jake remarked dryly, grunting slightly with effort as they began to carry the alien through the tunnels. "What's the exchange rate for a Chriathk credit to a pound, anyway?"

"They're payin' us in gemstones, you idiot," Rose responded with a giggle. "Well, either that or asparagus… That translation program we're working on is still a bit sketchy…"

"Maybe you two should get on that, then, Wonder Team," Jake remarked.

Rose had discovered fairly quickly after starting work at Torchwood that, though the TARDIS circuit was no longer inside of her head helping her translate, she seemed to have a residual awareness of alien languages. Or perhaps her penchant for linguistics was the result of some lasting, unexpected effect of her time as the Bad Wolf. Either way, although she no longer possessed the instant, effortless fluency that she had grown accustomed to while traveling on the TARDIS, she still had a rudimentary understanding of most aliens they came in contact with, and with a bit of prolonged communication with the creatures, she could generally pick up the language fairly quickly. This talent had made her a vital asset to their branch of Torchwood. It had also been quite a big help in her foreign language classes when she decided to go back and get her A Levels two years prior. For the past year, though, she and Mickey, the resident computer genius, had been working on developing a translation software for Torchwood to use, so that they would no longer be so dependent on Rose for communication, on the very unlikely off-chance that their other, secret project was ever a success.

"Right, you lads can handle it from here, yeah?" Rose asked as they ascended from the abandoned subway station onto an equally abandoned London back alley and quickly deposited their charge into the back of a large, black van.

"And just where are you runnin' off to?" Mickey demanded. "Not tryin' to skip out on the paperwork again, are you?"

"Yeah, and what about going down to the pub after a mission like we always do?"

"I can't, mates. I have to get home and get ready for Mum's birthday party!"

"That's not for hours, yet!"

"Yeah, but it takes us proper society ladies a long time to look presentable," Rose declared, flipping her hair and placing her hands on her hips snootily. "B'sides, I've gotta wash this lizard monkey musk off. That's gonna take ages."

Mickey and Jake both snickered at that.

"Yeah, a right lady she is," Mickey remarked sidelong to his friend.

"A proper socialite," Jake agreed.

"Oi! Don't get cheeky, or I'll tell all the catering staff not to let you touch the food tonight."

Both men instantly had their hands clasped in front of their faces in supplication.

"We didn't mean it, Rose!"

"We're sure you'll look lovely as ever, tonight!"

Rose grinned and nodded her head approvingly. "That's more like it. Good luck with the runaway prince, there, and I'll see you boys tonight."

She held her grin until she'd turned the corner away from her friends where it suddenly dropped from her face, being replaced by a look of sadness and longing as she couldn't help but think of a similar party she'd attended so many years ago, the first time she'd come to this universe. Back when she was still with _him_…


	3. Chapter 3

"So this is some sort of… What? Traveling Intergalactic Flea Market?" Gwen asked skeptically, eyeing the dusty, chaotic assortment of unidentifiable objects that filled the interior of the spaceship they had just entered.

"Pretty much," Captain Jack Harkness agreed easily, lifting a small, cylindrical object made of rough-hewn metal up for inspection.

"What's it doing on Earth, though, Captain?" Gwen asked curiously. "I mean, they can't have much of a customer base on a planet that still doesn't admit to the existence of aliens, can they?"

Jack just shrugged, placing down the object he had been studying and glancing at her with a slight grin. "Well we're here, aren't we?"

Gwen just nodded in response, distracted by trying to make sense of the myriad of implements around her. Her attention was quickly caught as she noticed a section of the ship a ways down that seemed to be devoted to clothing, jewelry and decorative items, luckily things that she didn't need an expansive knowledge of alien technology to appreciate.

"Go on then," Jack encouraged, noting where her eyes had wandered. "I'll come get you when I'm ready to go."

Gwen blushed, embarrassed to give into her feminine side when she was supposed to be acting professional, but the twinkle of amusement in Jack's eye put her back at ease, and she smiled gratefully at him before bustling off to browse the fashions and accessories of dozens of alien races.

Jack browsed in silence for several minutes, looking around for parts to repair his vortex manipulator with, or for anything else he recognized that he thought might be of benefit at Torchwood. He stilled, though, as he noticed a complicated device with several parts on it that looked quite familiar from his numerous experiences repairing the TARDIS.

"One of the prizes of my collection," a raspy voice declared from over Jack's shoulder as he picked the device up and studied it intently. He glanced over his shoulder to survey the speaker, a being that, were it not for its stark white skin and widely-dilated, vertically-blinking eyes, would look almost entirely human.

"What is it?" Jack asked curiously, inclining his head towards the object in his hands.

"Ancient technology," the shopkeeper replied with an enigmatic smile, revealing a set of even, translucent teeth. "Poached from an even more ancient race."

"Time Lords," Jack responded matter-of-factly.

Liquid black eyes opened wide in surprise. "Indeed. Though not entirely of their making."

Jack peered closer at the device, noting that, interspersed amongst the wires and cables and metals were parts that looked to be made of organic matter. Some looked similar to the coral he remembered from the Doctor's TARDIS, though other parts resembled bone shards.

"As I said," the shopkeeper continued when he saw Jack noting the incongruous design aspects. "This technology was poached from the Time Lords in pieces, not stolen as a whole. It was cobbled together by a much more primitive race."

"Is it a vortex manipulator?"

The shopkeeper shook his head, the silvery strands of his hair brushing across his shoulders. "No, no. Only the Time Lords had the ability to harness the power of the Time Vortex."

Jack glanced down at his wristwatch, silently thinking that he begged to differ, though he knew that his technology was also stolen in part from the Time Lords, and that it was much more limited than theirs. He had also learned from The Doctor during his travels that the Time Agency was a failed experiment that lasted only about ten years before being shut down by the very beings they had sought to imitate because they had caused a series of deaths and narrowly-avoided disasters. Apparently, blindly traveling through time without a Time Lord's perception of future timelines and universal flux could be a disastrous thing.

"So it's not a time-traveling device, then. So what is it?"

"Merely a simple teleporter," the shopkeeper replied mildly.

Jack raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "This thing is far too complicated to be a _simple _teleporter," he remarked.

The shopkeeper smiled another of his enigmatic smiles. "Well, perhaps 'simple' is not the right word for it, then. The device technically possesses the power to travel through the void, into parallel dimensions."

Jack's icy blue eyes narrowed instantly onto the man's face, every muscle in his body tensing. "You're lying."

He shook his head solemnly. "On my honor, I am not."

The captain took in a deep, shuddering breath before shaking his head sadly and lowering the teleportation device back down. "Even so, there's no way to travel between universes without ripping holes in the fabric of reality. Not since the Time War, anyway."

"No, there is not," the shopkeeper agreed. "Though there is a way to stitch the holes back up again immediately, before any damage can be done to the universes."

Jack shook his head desperately. "No. No, that can't be possible…"

"How do you think the Time Lords did it?" the alien asked with a sly smile.

"But then… If they had that power, why can't…" Jack trailed off, then, not wanting to explain about the Doctor to this man who seemed to have such intimate knowledge of the Time War. He might not be so understanding about the genocide he had been forced to commit.

The shopkeeper surprised him, though, by giving him a knowing look. "The Time Lords utilized the energy of the universe in all of their technology. It's how they manipulated the Time Vortex and how they were once able to travel between dimensions. But different universes have different energies. One TARDIS could rip the hole and travel through, with enough reserve power stored to rip their way back once they were done with their visit. But, as is so often the case, it takes much more energy to repair something than it does to break it. Much more than they could manage from reserve stores, without the power of the universe to draw from. Another Time Lord had to repair the damage from the original universe once the first had traveled through. It is a mutual effort, not something the Last of the Time Lords could accomplish on his own."

"You know the Doctor, then?" Jack asked quietly.

"Live as long and travel as much as I have, and you come to know many things."

Jack rolled his eyes at the enigmatic answer and once again turned his attention back to the transporter. "So, if this can't harness the power of the other universe it travels to… How can it repair the hole it rips?"

"Because it does not run off the universal or rift energy."

"No? What, then?" Jack asked suspiciously.

"Life energy. A most potent source."

"It runs off what?" Jack asked darkly, his eyes narrowed.

The shopkeeper held his hands out. "The Triavash were a barbaric race. All of the intelligence and technology of a highly advanced race, but still clinging to a culture and dogma much more akin to the ancient ones of this planet. They believed that all of their technology had been revealed to them by a race of Gods who required ritual sacrifices to appease them. In their case, this belief was strangely apt, as they had discovered a way to harness an organism's life energy, a concept which has luckily escaped most races in the history of the universe. All of their technology was powered by the murder of their people."

"What happened to them?" Jack asked, his voice keeping its dangerous, steely edge.

"The oppressed lower classes, those which all of the sacrifices were drawn from, eventually rose up, as oppressed lower classes so often do, and overthrew their oppressors. They systematically gathered all life-powered objects and destroyed them. They were reverted back to their equivalent of the Dark Ages for a while, but eventually discovered new, more humane energy sources." He pointed to the object Jack still held in his hands. "That is one of the only Triavash Blood Age relics left in the universe."

"Why do you still have it, then? If it's so rare, shouldn't it be highly sought after?"

The shopkeeper shrugged. "No one much thinks about inter-dimensional travel, these days. Which raises the question of why it so fascinates you," he remarked slyly.

Jack clutched the transporter tighter in his hands instinctually, visions of blonde hair, a vibrant smile, and a Union Jack t-shirt flashing through his mind.

"Also, I do not believe I have ever encountered someone in my market who is trustworthy to possess an artifact that runs off of life energy, and yet who might still find some use out of it. But you, like me, seem to be much older than you look. Perhaps you have some life to spare…"

Jack gave the man a wary look, slightly put-off by his wealth of knowledge and uncanny perception, but there was something about him that seemed to inspire trust, so he eventually nodded in response. Squaring his shoulders, Jack turned to the man with a look of determination in his eyes. "I'll take it."


	4. Chapter 4

Hours later, Jack was back in his office, staring at his newly purchased trans-dimensional teleporter as if he wasn't quite sure where to begin. After all, even if he could get the thing to work, he had no idea how to set coordinates for alternate dimensions. How was he supposed to find Rose? And how much of his life would it drain, anyway? Although he certainly _seemed_ immortal, Jack had no true assurances that his life was infinite.

Luckily, his musings were interrupted by the long-familiar but still unexpected sounds of the TARDIS materializing outside of the Torchwood bunker. Jack rose instantly from his desk and moved to exit with a mixed look of apprehension and excitement on his face. Though the Doctor had come to visit Jack several times since their shared ordeal with the Master, Jack still had deeply mixed feelings about seeing the man he had once loved so intensely yet still deeply resented for the betrayal that had never been satisfactorily explained or answered for. Nonetheless, he didn't think twice about pushing open the blue wooden doors and entering the impossible spaceship he had called his home so many years ago.

He was surprised to find the Doctor sitting on the jumpseat, staring straight ahead with a forlorn expression on his face. When he heard Jack enter, the Time Lord quickly tried to add some animation to his face, but Jack wasn't fooled.

"H'lo, Captain."

"Hey, Doc," Jack greeted. "You alright?"

"Me? I'm always alright," the Doctor replied, almost reflexively, with a weak grin.

"Don't pull that shit with me, Doc. I know you too well," Jack shot back, humor in his voice though they both knew the command was serious. "Where's Donna?" he segued, glancing around the ship for a glimpse of the spirited redhead. "Visiting her family again?"

The Doctor's eyes shut at the question, and he took a deep, steadying breath, before replying. "No. Donna's… She's getting married, actually. Which is grand, really! Good for her. Finally finding herself a proper bloke and all. But… She's not coming back."

"Ah," Jack responded quietly, knowingly. "C'mon, then." He gestured with his head down the corridor into the interior of the ship. The Doctor followed silently as Jack lead them into the kitchen, setting about making a cup of tea for the Doctor and some coffee for himself. No matter how many years he spent in England, he would never accept tea as a proper substitute for his beloved drink.

The men sat in silence for several minutes, just taking comfort from each others' company, before something broke the Doctor's stoic resolve, and he suddenly slumped forward, his lonely eyes meeting Jack's.

"Everything I do… All the traveling, seeing the universe, _saving _the universe… All of the running around and the adventures… They're nothing, really, without someone to share them with. I'm rubbish by myself," he admitted with a sigh, dragging a hand through his already unruly hair. "And so I find these amazing people to share my adventures with, and for a while everything is wonderful again… But they always leave me, in the end."

"Not always," Jack couldn't help but reply, bitterly. "Sometimes you leave them."

The Doctor sat up, then, staring at Jack intensely with ancient brown eyes that held such sorrow and regret in them it was almost staggering to the captain. "I'm sorry, Jack. _So _sorry."

"Yeah, well, sorry doesn't count for a whole lot without any kind of explanation to go along with it," Jack muttered.

The Doctor looked taken aback, momentarily, but his surprise quickly gave way to a look of resignation. "You're quite right… Rassilon, I can be such an ass, sometimes," he joked weakly, leaning back in his chair and covering his eyes with a sigh. "Right. You want an explanation, then? Very well. On the Game Station, when Rose brought you back, I felt it. Felt this disruption in the universe that every cell of my body screamed was _wrong_. You weren't supposed to exist anymore, especially not as this constant, fixed entity in time."

"Feelin' the love, Doc," Jack remarked dryly, trying to pretend that this conversation didn't have him completely on edge.

The Doctor went on as if he hadn't heard the comment. "Even so, my old self would have gone back for you. Even if it was only to drop you back to your original time. But I was so focused on saving Rose, and immediately afterwards I regenerated… And then, suddenly, I'm a completely new person. Sure, I have the same memories, but my personality is brand new, and sometimes during regenerations my emotions change, too… I… I was too focused on the Time Lord senses that were so freaked out by you to realize… That is… It wasn't until I saw you again, that day you jumped onto the TARDIS, that I realized that this regeneration still… Felt the same."

Jack could only nod at this admission, too busy analyzing all of this new information to formulate a response.

"I know it's probably not the explanation you wanted, but-"

"No," Jack interrupted him. "It's not, really. But it's still good to hear. Thanks, Doctor. I know how much you hate talking about your feelings, even in this new, cuddly regeneration. Emotionally repressed, you are, no matter what form you're in."

"Oi! Cuddly?" The Doctor exclaimed in outrage. "I'm the Last of the Time Lords! The Oncoming Storm! Defender of the Earth, Savior of the Universe and all that! I am not _cuddly_!"

Jack just laughed at his indignant response, causing the Doctor to pout even more.

Eventually, his expression lapsed back into a serious one. "You know, Jack, it took a while, but I think I'm getting used to your skewed timeline. Even the TARDIS isn't bothered by you, anymore. When do you… That is… Do you think you'll ever… Come home?"

Jack felt his heart clench at those words. Home. This ship hadn't been his home in so long, and yet it still felt so comfortable and right to be back on it. It still amazed him, sometimes, that the few years he had spent traveling with the Doctor and Rose had made such a lasting imprint on him, even as they came to represent just a tiny portion of his extended life. But the ship felt empty and wrong, somehow, without Rose's presence on it. And the thought of the dimension teleport sitting in his office at that moment had Jack shaking his head reluctantly.

"Someday, maybe. But I'm not ready to leave my team just yet," Jack responded gently. He had resolved not to tell the Doctor about what he was attempting to do, as he didn't want to risk getting the man's hopes up just to crush them if it didn't work.

The Doctor merely nodded knowingly, the guilt in his eyes showing that he thought Jack's rejection stemmed from his resentment of his abandonment, and also that he felt it was well-deserved. The Captain wanted to comfort his old friend and correct his false assumptions, but he felt it would be better to let the matter drop until he had resolved everything.

The men lapsed into silence once again, staring into their cups, before the Doctor finally met Jack's eyes again.

"I miss her."

Jack knew instantly that he was no longer referring to Donna.

"Me, too," he replied simply, before going back to staring into his coffee. He was more resolved than ever, now, to make this artifact he had somehow acquired work. No matter what it took.


	5. Chapter 5

"No, no, to the left a bit, it needs to center the staircase. And get those bloody flowers put out on all the tables. Have you heard from the caterers yet? They were supposed to be here an hour ago!"

Rose smiled to herself at the sight of Pete Tyler, Director of Torchwood London and defender of the Earth from alien invasions, running around frantically in preparation for his wife's birthday party.

"Everything under control, here?" she teased, coming to stand beside her father with her arms crossed.

"God, I hope so," Pete replied tiredly before turning to give his daughter a smile. "Do you like the banner?"

Rose cocked her head and surveyed the large sign proclaiming _Happy Birthday, Jackie! _in large, flourishing script hanging over the stairs, noting the careful absence of any information that revealed exactly which birthday it was. "Wise man," she murmured sagely.

Pete gave her a conspiratorial grin. "Well, one can only have so many 39th birthdays before people start to get suspicious."

"With as much booze as gets circulated durin' these shindigs? I doubt anyone even remembers how to count to ten."

"Speaking of booze… Where are those bloody caterers?"

"Oh, the caterers arrived an hour ago," one of the serving staff remarked, overhearing Pete's query and pausing on her way to the kitchen. "Mrs. Tyler's been in there showin' 'em her Shepherd's Pie recipe."

Pete shook his head in amazement. "Bunch of world-renowned chefs we've got in there, and she's giving 'em cooking lessons!"

Rose let out a laugh. "Good ol' Mum… Bet they're takin' notes, too. Her Shepherd's Pie is to die for."

Pete smiled, but it didn't quite seem genuine, his eyes taking a faraway cast that Rose had seen on several occasions since being trapped in this universe. For the most part, the transition into their rather bizarre family dynamic had been quite effortless. Pete, after spending so many years wishing for a child, slipped easily and eagerly into the role of father, and Rose was so happy to have her long-lost dad back that they quickly formed a very tight bond. And Pete and Jackie, though technically both strangers to each other, shared so many common memories and personality traits with each other's deceased spouses that it often seemed as if they forgot that they were now married to alternate versions. Every now and then, though, Jackie would do something that would cause that speculative look in Pete's eyes as he was reminded of the truth of their situation.

"It's still weird for you sometimes, isn't it?" Rose prompted gently.

Pete snapped back into awareness, shifting guiltily at having been caught. The compassionate expression on Rose's face prompted him to answer honestly, though. "Yeah, it is. I mean… Technically, I'm a widower. But it's so easy to forget that, most of the time. But occasionally your mum'll go and do something, like teaching the caterers how to cook, and suddenly I'll remember…" He trailed off and rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly. "When Vitex managed to take off and we suddenly got rich, my—this universe's Jacks started to develop airs. Stopped cooking because she said we could pay people to do that, now, and wouldn't talk to the housekeepers and serving staff because she thought they were beneath her. But your mum…"

"She'll make friends and babble on at whoever's willin' to listen, no matter their station," Rose interjected knowingly, to which Pete nodded and gave her a soft smile.

"She's still the woman I fell in love with."

Despite herself, Rose felt her eyes welling up at his declaration, but she was kept from responding as a four year old boy suddenly came barreling down the staircase, brandishing a banana in front of himself menacingly.

"Hurry up, K9!" he yelled, stopping to look back up the staircase. "The werewolf and the evil monks are getting away!"

His command was met with an excited '_woof!_' as a Yorkie with an aluminum foil-wrapped collar came chasing after him.

"And where are you two off to in such a rush?" Pete called good-naturedly as Tony and Rose (the dog version, since renamed Rosie to avoid confusion) charged past him.

"To save the Queen!" Tony declared proudly.

Pete raised an eyebrow. "With a banana?" But by this point, Tony was already too far away to hear his remark.

"It's a sonic blaster, actually," Rose corrected, her face remaining somber for all of three seconds before it relaxed into her tongue-in-teeth grin.

"Oh, right. Of course it is… Honestly, those stories you fill his head with… They make my work stories seem positively bland, in comparison."

Rose's grin widened even more. "What're the odds he'll grow up to have a normal job that has nothin' to do with aliens, d'you think?"

"I'd say slim to none."

"Rose! There you are, sweetheart!"

Rose glanced up as her mother entered the living room, smears of flour on her face and outfit from her impromptu cooking lesson. "That's a nice look for you, Mum. Is this how you're goin' to your party?"

"Oi, you can talk! You've got mud caked all over your pants! And you reek! What is that smell, anyway?"

"It's Chriathk musk! I had to wear it for an assignment earlier!" Rose snapped defensively.

"Well you need to go wash that off right now. C'mon, off to the bath with you. And then you can help me pick out my dress for tonight," Jackie ordered, ushering Rose up the stairs.

Rose turned one final smile to Pete before linking her arm through her mother's and escorting her up the stairs.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Right, I know this chapter is dreadfully short, but after this we're done with setup and about to get into the good stuff! Also, I had a bit of a question for my readers, if you please, because I'm torn on what to do with this story. Though I have always found myself shipping completely traditional relationships in all other fictions (monogamous, heterosexual, and the like), I find myself strangely compelled by the fanfictions I've read for Doctor Who that have The Doctor, Rose, and Jack all together in this modern, three-part relationship. And when this story popped into my head, that was the direction I had initially planned to take it. However, I don't know how most other people actually feel about that. So if you guys could maybe review with some input as to how you'd prefer the story to go? It would be much appreciated. :)

* * *

"Of all the bad ideas I've had…"

Jack was once again sitting in his office, staring at the device on his desk with a great amount of trepidation. After about two weeks of research and modifications, he believed he had finally gotten the teleport calibrated and ready for what he was about to attempt. He had added a DNA tracing device in order to get around not knowing the slightest bit about inputting coordinates for alternate universes. He only hoped it would be able to scan through multiple parallel dimensions. He also paired that with his vortex manipulator, utilizing the setting used to sense vortex energy and detect fellow time travelers, which would hopefully keep the tracer from transporting him to some parallel Rose who had never even heard of him or the Doctor. Even with these modifications in place, though, there was no guarantee that it would work. He might end up trapped in the void or scattered into atoms. Even with his apparent immortality, that would surely put a damper on his quality of life.

Still…

His eyes trailed away from the teleport to stare wistfully at the photograph in his hand that he had found in Rose's room during his last visit with the Doctor. The image was a candid shot of himself and Rose on some alien planet in the midst of a snowball fight, though the snow on this planet was a silvery-lavender color, not the pure white of Earth's. The picture had captured Rose right as she had been pegged in the face with a snowball, her mouth open wide in a silent scream of shock and indignation, though her eyes were still bright with that effervescent happiness Jack had always been so entranced by. Standing across from Rose in the picture was Jack, his arm still forward as if he had just thrown the snowball and his head tossed back in boisterous laughter. His expression was one of such carefree happiness that Jack almost didn't recognize himself. After as many years as he'd lived and as much as he'd seen… He'd forgotten how light his heart had once been.

The picture was a reminder of how it had felt to travel the universe with his two best friends, and in the end it was all the incentive he needed to steel his nerve for what he was about to do. Turning back to the transporter with determination, he gingerly took several blonde hairs he had taken from a brush in Rose's old room while the Doctor was distracted and placed them inside of the DNA tracer. He then gave it a few moments to calibrate before flipping several switches and pressing a series of buttons on the teleporter's keypad. When the device had emitted a soft beep, indicating it was turned on, Jack took a deep, steadying breath.

"Right. Here goes nothing…"

He brought his hand down forcefully on a panel of the teleporter with a bone shard sticking up vertically, impaling his palm all the way down so that the shard came out through the back of his hand. He only had a moment to register the pain of his injury, though, before he was overwhelmed with an icy agony as the device drained the energy out of every single one of his cells. As his body lost energy, it caused his muscles to lock up in some sort of living rigor mortis, not even allowing him to let loose the agonized scream that was building inside of him. His arms had just enough energy left to clutch the photograph and the teleporter close to his chest before they, too, were totally drained, and suddenly everything went black.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N Right, first of all, I would like to thank everyone for the amazing reviews I've gotten! They are as oxygen to me. Secondly, I'll go ahead and say that, in response to the opinions y'all have posted about the state of our characters' relationships, I'm going to keep this story as strictly Doctor/Rose. However, for my own perverse enjoyment I'm also writing an alternate version simultaneously that ships the three of them together, so if any of you are interested in reading that, you can just send me a private message and I'll send you the alternate chapters as they're written.

Also, if anyone wants pictures of the dress I'm envisioning for Rose, I'm posting a link on my profile.

Now then, one last chapter of set-up before the much-awaited reunion!

* * *

The first floor of the Tyler mansion was filled with an array of guests parading around in their finery, some dancing, some chatting, and others making short work of the ample supply of champagne and hors d'oeuvres that were being circulated throughout by the catering staff.

"I remember when Mum's birthday parties were just her and a couple of the neighbors gettin' plastered and singin' karaoke," Rose remarked quietly to Mickey and Jake as the trio surveyed the scene.

"Everythin's a bit different in this universe, huh?" Mickey replied.

"It's a shame, though. I'd love to hear your mum sing drunken karaoke," Jake remarked jovially.

Rose laughed. "Maybe we can talk her into it at the next family dinner."

Family, in this case, was a relative term, because Mickey and Jake both attended these dinners along with the Tylers every Saturday night.

"Oi! Jake, three o'clock!" Mickey exclaimed suddenly, inclining his head towards a striking brunette wearing a slinky black evening gown.

"Who's she, then?" Rose asked curiously.

"That's Stephanie. She just started at Torchwood in the lab department," Mickey explained quietly. "Jake found out she's a Led Zeppelin fan and he's taken quite a liking to her ever since."

"I thought you were opposed to dating women we work with, on account of complications," Rose remarked, raising an eyebrow.

Jake just shrugged. "For this case I may make an exception…" With a parting wink, he marched a determined path towards his newly acquired target.

The two watched Jake's approach with undisguised curiosity, grinning to each other when the girl responded to whatever he had said to her with a flirtatious smile as she held her hand out to dance.

"Wanna give it a go, then?" Mickey asked Rose playfully. "There've been a lot of guys eyein' you tonight."

Rose merely smiled sadly and shook her head.

"C'mon, Rose. There's no harm in tryin'."

"Mickey… What I felt with the Doctor… There's no describing it, really. It's the kind of thing you only feel once in your life, and if you lose it… Nothing else can ever compare."

Mickey nodded his understanding, returning her sad smile and looping an arm around her shoulder in comfort. "You miss him, don't you? More than usual, I mean, tonight. Every year at your mum's birthday party, you get this sad look in your eyes and keep eyein' the waiters like you're expecting him to pop up any minute."

Rose laid her head on Mickey's shoulder. "I can't help it. There're so many reminders of our first time in this universe… Minus the army of Cybermen trying to murder us, of course."

Mickey let out a snort at this. "When I decided to stay here that day, I never expected you to end up here with me. As much as I love havin' you around, though, I'm not glad that you did." He tightened his hold on her shoulders. "It took me a while to realize it and everyfin', but you and the Doctor… You belonged together."

Rose glanced up at him in surprise but didn't have a chance to say something in response, as Jackie picked that moment to summon Rose over to meet some of her friends. With a grateful smile at Mickey for his understanding, she slipped out from under his arm and went to answer the summons.

Jack awoke to find himself collapsed face-first in a rose bush.

"Huh, how's that for irony?" he muttered, sitting up to try and remove some of the thorns from his face. He regretted the motion instantly as a dull, throbbing pain suddenly washed through his whole body. "Ugh… I've not felt this hungover since the 1920's," he remarked to no one in particular. "Prohibition era was the best time for parties, weirdly enough."

"Are you an alien?"

Jack glanced up to find a young boy staring at him with polite interest, seated on the ground beside him with a dog and a banana in his lap.

"That depends, kid. What species are you?"

"Human. From Earth," the boy replied easily, as if it was a perfectly reasonable question.

"In that case, no, I'm not an alien." Jack was amused to see the slightly crestfallen expression on the child's face before it quickly brightened.

"A time-traveler, then?"

"Used to be, yeah."

The boy lit up with excitement before his eyes suddenly narrowed suspiciously. "Why do you have a picture of my sister?" he asked, nodding his head towards the photograph Jack still clutched in one hand.

"Your sister?" Jack gave the boy an assessing look, noting for the first time the familial resemblance between him and Rose. The blond hair, hazel eyes, and stubborn expression all seemed quite familiar to him, and it caused him to gift the boy with a warm grin. "I'm an old friend."

"She doesn't have any old friends."

Jack raised an eyebrow at the stubborn, knowing expression on the little boy's face. "Not in this universe, perhaps," he countered with a smirk. He then held out the photograph so that the child could see the other half that contained Jack's face.

The boy scrutinized the picture carefully before turning to study the man in front of him. His eyes lingered on his roguish smirk and the WWII era coat before his face suddenly lit up with realization and delight.

"You're Captain Jack!"

Jack's smirk took on a decidedly smug air. "You've heard of me, then?"

The boy nodded vigorously. "Rose has told me all sorts of stories about you!"

Despite the smugness that he presented, Jack found himself rather touched to know that Rose still thought about him so often. "What's your name, kid?"

"Tony."

"Well, Tony, do you think you could take me to see your sister? I've traveled kind of a long way to come and visit her."

"Of course!" Tony declared, hopping up at once. "Rose will be so happy to see you!"

Jack just smiled and followed after the boy as he lead him through the sprawling grounds of the Tyler estate and back to the mansion. His whole body was tensed in nervous excitement at the realization that he was finally going to see Rose again. How long had it been for him, anyway? Too many years to count, really. Though for her it couldn't have been more than seven.

Tony stopped him in front of a large picture window where he could easily view the party going on inside. After scanning the room for a moment, he caught sight of Rose standing amongst a group of people, and his breath caught in his throat. She was clad in a red silk, backless gown that clung to her chest and waist before flowing elegantly down to pool around her feet. The neckline was lined with silver beading, and it delved down low enough to be enticing while still staying modest enough for a party with politicians and businessmen. Jack had seen Rose in many levels of dress throughout his time with her, from kimonos to pajamas to bathing suits, but never before had he seen her looking quite so elegant and womanly. He then noticed that a slit ran up the dress to her thigh, allowing him to see her toned legs and the silver sandals she wore that, though elegant, seemed out of place amongst the sea of stilettos worn by all the other women. Some habits of life with the Doctor are hard to break, Jack thought wryly. Always avoid heels.

"Aren't you going to go in and talk to her?" Tony asked, pulling on Jack's sleeve and distracting him from his appraisal of Rose.

Jack glanced back inside to look at Rose standing in a group that included Mickey, her mother, and the man he knew to be Rose's father from pictures she had kept on the TARDIS. She was laughing and talking animatedly, and though he couldn't hear what she was saying, she seemed quite in her element interacting amongst family and friends in the ballroom of her beautiful home, and Jack suddenly felt a wave of dread and apprehension flood forcefully through him. What if she didn't want to return to their universe? She seemed to have quite a happy life carved out here for herself… How thoughtless was he to assume that he and the Doctor were enough enticement to draw her back, when her entirely family was here?

As he watched, though, Rose suddenly excused herself from the crowd that she was in and made her escape through a door that seemed to lead to a balcony, and as she passed by the window Jack was standing in, he could see a deep sadness and longing clouding her eyes. That expression was enough to rid him of his self-doubts, and he quickly turned to enter the house and follow Rose, pausing only to give Tony an absent-minded thanks for bringing him there.


End file.
